I mentioned briefly on Facebook that I was in communications with a publisher to bring Reztap back. It's been out of print for a couple of years. While I was originally looking to launch my own publishing company to do the Reztap series right, I';ve since reconsidered since I don't have that kind of time and money to devote to that kind of enterprise; hence why it's been several years since Reztap was in print!
I will be getting a contract from Blue Forge Press within the next day or two, have it thoroughly reviewed by my lawyer, and then likely sign it. You may be asking yourself why I went with Blue Forge Press. My simple answer is - it feels right. It's the right time, the right place, and the deal is like a traditional publishing company where I am not paying fees for work on the book like a vanity press. They're up for getting all three completed books to the presses as soon as possible. They are investing their money in my success - they liked the books that much. I shared the series premise and they are on board.
They will handle everything. I just have to write and make a few public appearances at conventions and the like. I finally get to get book two out to you readers - that's so exciting! Here's a list of the books that will be coming out this year, I think. They are completed, so there's that for you.
1. Mishaps and Mayhem (aka Book Zero)
2. The Adventures of Reztap (aka Book One)
3. Reztap and the Quest for the Insane Moth (aka Book Two)
Future releases will include books three thru six and may also include some spin off books. I will be narrating the audio books as well. It's really happening. I am incredibly close to actually making a living as a writer; that's been a life long dream. Of course, sales will have to be healthy to make that happen, but it really feels like I'm turning a corner.
Let me just say this again - a traditional publisher read my books and wants to publish them. This is traditional author stuff. Not a vanity press. It's a validation of years of work.
There are other advantages to working with Blue Forge Group - an opportunity to work in different mediums telling different stories as well. It's an exciting week.
Keep writing out there!
Artemus
Showing posts with label reztap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reztap. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
Monday, December 14, 2015
Entering Limbo
I admit, I felt that particular leg of my foundation in writing shaking quite a bit since the loss of the Director of Publishing who had championed me to my publisher. Loss as in no longer working there, not because she had passed. I now begin the strange journey of transition from being a published writer to being, well, something else.
I felt the loss more acutely when the Director of Publishing left. She was the creative spark that directed the fiction side of the business. Without her, all the fiction titles and authors have floundered a bit. My excitement to join the publishing company had more to do with access to real marketing and publishing expertise than it did with the "reputation" of being a professionally published author. Just when my book came out, my champion disappeared and so did the push that was supposed to come with my debut novel.
Still, I can say I've sold about as many books in my first year as an average book by any author this year. many authors have sold less and a few have sold more. I've gained experience in web site design (to a degree), seen some very well done cover designs and book layouts (enough to know I need someone else to do them), and a splash of insight into book marketing. It has been a great learning experience, but I'm now at a point where I can't exactly take advantage of that experience and move forward. Limbo has its drawbacks.
My options from here forth are to find another publisher or create my own publishing company. Actually, the third option is simply to go back to self publishing which is just a step down from creating my own publishing company. I honestly had another publisher lined up, but things have changed for them since our last chat a few months ago and they're no longer an option for the foreseeable future. It may be best to go it alone, take on all the pieces of self publishing and simply get the thing done on my own. The advantages are that I'll have complete control over every aspect of the books' life and marketing. The disadvantages are essentially the same - all of those bits and pieces will take time I simply haven't had in my schedule to take over.
What I didn't have before is access to people who controlled every aspect of building a professional quality book. With the contacts I have now, I feel confident I can arrange those pieces and get them into place. The marketing contact I found is probably the biggest key. Still, the production of this book series at this point is a vanity project of sorts now. That's the reality of the situation. Have people commented that they loved the book? Absolutely! For fans of that genre, it's really spot on. The question of how to reach my target audience that I haven't met yet without spending a ton of money is the real conundrum. I suppose it's the same problem most self published authors face - how to reach their audience and not go broke in the process.
In the mean time, The Adventures of Reztap and Mishaps and Mayhem are still available for sale, and I still get paid royalties for them. It's actually unclear at the moment if I'll be pulling them from Chart House Press or leaving them there. All signs seem to point to the publisher wanting to relinquish control as soon as possible. What files and data I'll receive in the process in unclear. Even book two is in a basically completed stage, just waiting on me to get the cash together to push for the marketing reviews of The Adventures of Reztap and, possibly, Mishaps and Mayhem as well.
New job, bills stack up and the cost for getting review copies sent out seems further and further away every day. I'm taking a deep breath and pushing forward. I want to get those reviews online before March 2016. I'd like to get book two reviewed shortly thereafter and published some time in 2016, hopefully by the summer. I just don't want links to point to a book that's no longer there! Hence, limbo.
Wish me luck and keep on reading!
Regards,
Artemus
I felt the loss more acutely when the Director of Publishing left. She was the creative spark that directed the fiction side of the business. Without her, all the fiction titles and authors have floundered a bit. My excitement to join the publishing company had more to do with access to real marketing and publishing expertise than it did with the "reputation" of being a professionally published author. Just when my book came out, my champion disappeared and so did the push that was supposed to come with my debut novel.
Still, I can say I've sold about as many books in my first year as an average book by any author this year. many authors have sold less and a few have sold more. I've gained experience in web site design (to a degree), seen some very well done cover designs and book layouts (enough to know I need someone else to do them), and a splash of insight into book marketing. It has been a great learning experience, but I'm now at a point where I can't exactly take advantage of that experience and move forward. Limbo has its drawbacks.
My options from here forth are to find another publisher or create my own publishing company. Actually, the third option is simply to go back to self publishing which is just a step down from creating my own publishing company. I honestly had another publisher lined up, but things have changed for them since our last chat a few months ago and they're no longer an option for the foreseeable future. It may be best to go it alone, take on all the pieces of self publishing and simply get the thing done on my own. The advantages are that I'll have complete control over every aspect of the books' life and marketing. The disadvantages are essentially the same - all of those bits and pieces will take time I simply haven't had in my schedule to take over.
What I didn't have before is access to people who controlled every aspect of building a professional quality book. With the contacts I have now, I feel confident I can arrange those pieces and get them into place. The marketing contact I found is probably the biggest key. Still, the production of this book series at this point is a vanity project of sorts now. That's the reality of the situation. Have people commented that they loved the book? Absolutely! For fans of that genre, it's really spot on. The question of how to reach my target audience that I haven't met yet without spending a ton of money is the real conundrum. I suppose it's the same problem most self published authors face - how to reach their audience and not go broke in the process.
In the mean time, The Adventures of Reztap and Mishaps and Mayhem are still available for sale, and I still get paid royalties for them. It's actually unclear at the moment if I'll be pulling them from Chart House Press or leaving them there. All signs seem to point to the publisher wanting to relinquish control as soon as possible. What files and data I'll receive in the process in unclear. Even book two is in a basically completed stage, just waiting on me to get the cash together to push for the marketing reviews of The Adventures of Reztap and, possibly, Mishaps and Mayhem as well.
New job, bills stack up and the cost for getting review copies sent out seems further and further away every day. I'm taking a deep breath and pushing forward. I want to get those reviews online before March 2016. I'd like to get book two reviewed shortly thereafter and published some time in 2016, hopefully by the summer. I just don't want links to point to a book that's no longer there! Hence, limbo.
Wish me luck and keep on reading!
Regards,
Artemus
Monday, October 26, 2015
Book 2 - Pre-marketing Options
Here it is, a mere month before book 2, Reztap and The Quest for the Insane Moth, would have gone on sale and I'm still mulling over my pre-marketing options. I've learned that I've already accomplished some things, I'm right on track with others, and hopelessly behind the eight ball about to get sunk in a corner pocket with the other things.
The rudest note was checking out this link (http://allindiewriters.com/book-marketing-timeline-from-pre-launch-to-post-launch/) outlining what I should do to pre-market my book and when. The timeline starts nine months before book launch! Yeah, that's so not happening. Still, glancing through the list, I did see that I'd gotten some things done already, although that was primarily because they were done for the first book.
Get a MailChimp account - check. Send emails out bi-weekly or once a month - damn. Already missed on that one, mostly because I don't want to fill my the inboxes of my minuscule mailing list with pointless chatter. So, guess I'll be getting a pre-launch email out to them so they know what's going on at least. Putting that on my To Do List, honestly.
Then I'm down to building lists of things, most of which I'm not sure exist or I can reasonably find. Finally, get an author head shot. Thank goodness that's already done. I'm going to be a searching maniac the next couple of months trying to catch up on the other lists...and some of it won't matter because it's already way too late...but not for book 3!
However, with all this insane pre-marketing activity supposedly going into place, I've had to slow roll the entire machine. The "would have gone on sale" is the key note here. Book two is done and in the bag (writing, editing, cover art, book formatting, etc.), but I had to slow everything down for two reasons - one, I want to do things right and there are some prerequisites that still have to be put in place for that to happen. The bigger reason is: I'm simply out of cash.
Starting over professionally and financially since moving here has put us on the edge. It will pass, but it pushes off the publishing date of book two to an as yet undetermined date. I've been advised by a marketing contractor to get "professional" reviews of both the prequel (Mishaps and Mayhem) and book one (The Adventures of Reztap) before I forward book two for the same treatment. All of that will be a three to four month process. I hope to get it started within the month of November, but I can't make any guarantees.
Which puts this whole matter into perspective. What have I learned from this extensive process that perhaps you too, the reader, may be able to apply to your own book marketing adventures?
1. Book marketing is key to a successful book launch.
2. Continuing book marketing has some value but falls off after time.
3. If you're doing a series, get the first books reviewed first; don't start in the middle.
4. There is a LOT to book marketing - see the list above and plan well ahead of time.
5. Marketing is an uncomfortable requirement for someone who just wants to write - but if you want to sell your books as well as write them, it is a necessary evil.
This just relates to marketing. I saw an article that bemoaned the amount of book marketing going on in social media and the article author said "Just write a good book and it will sell itself." Honestly, my jaw dropped open when I read this. It was from a book author who had already written several books and had an audience already. I wondered what he did when he "first" started out? Not advertise or try to market his book at all and it magically sold well? I think not. Even a well written book has to be pushed onto the market with some kind of publicity or, quite simply, NO ONE will know it exists!
So, write your book, get it edited professionally, and start the marketing process. It's a long one, but don't be discouraged. It won't happen fast or overnight - it takes pre-planning and discipline.
Regards,
Artemus
However, with all this insane pre-marketing activity supposedly going into place, I've had to slow roll the entire machine. The "would have gone on sale" is the key note here. Book two is done and in the bag (writing, editing, cover art, book formatting, etc.), but I had to slow everything down for two reasons - one, I want to do things right and there are some prerequisites that still have to be put in place for that to happen. The bigger reason is: I'm simply out of cash.
Starting over professionally and financially since moving here has put us on the edge. It will pass, but it pushes off the publishing date of book two to an as yet undetermined date. I've been advised by a marketing contractor to get "professional" reviews of both the prequel (Mishaps and Mayhem) and book one (The Adventures of Reztap) before I forward book two for the same treatment. All of that will be a three to four month process. I hope to get it started within the month of November, but I can't make any guarantees.
Which puts this whole matter into perspective. What have I learned from this extensive process that perhaps you too, the reader, may be able to apply to your own book marketing adventures?
1. Book marketing is key to a successful book launch.
2. Continuing book marketing has some value but falls off after time.
3. If you're doing a series, get the first books reviewed first; don't start in the middle.
4. There is a LOT to book marketing - see the list above and plan well ahead of time.
5. Marketing is an uncomfortable requirement for someone who just wants to write - but if you want to sell your books as well as write them, it is a necessary evil.
This just relates to marketing. I saw an article that bemoaned the amount of book marketing going on in social media and the article author said "Just write a good book and it will sell itself." Honestly, my jaw dropped open when I read this. It was from a book author who had already written several books and had an audience already. I wondered what he did when he "first" started out? Not advertise or try to market his book at all and it magically sold well? I think not. Even a well written book has to be pushed onto the market with some kind of publicity or, quite simply, NO ONE will know it exists!
So, write your book, get it edited professionally, and start the marketing process. It's a long one, but don't be discouraged. It won't happen fast or overnight - it takes pre-planning and discipline.
Regards,
Artemus
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Old Endings, New Beginnings
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. It's a phrase used to represent the beginning of a new marriage. However, in my case, I'd like to use it to address my upcoming geographical relocation from the Houston metro area to the Seattle metro area.
Something old - I've lived in Houston longer than I've lived in any town my entire life. My wife and I have dreamed on moving to the northwest for nearly as long as we've been married, but we chose this phase of our life to be in Houston where our kids could go to the same schools all the way through high school graduation. Sure, job opportunities brought us here originally, but the desire for stability for our daughters kept us here. We desired something we didn't have - the chance to start and finish in the same high school. Was it worth it? In the end, I Don't know. My children have grown up to be stable and responsible, so that seems to have paid off, but then so are their parents and we had crazy instability growing up in different ways. I like to think it will help our kids lead better lives which is all we really want for them.
But the time has come to say goodbye to the old house, goodbye to friends and goodbye to old experiences. I think Houston was good to us in the long run and there are things I'll miss about it, but ultimately, it wasn't where we wanted to start the next chapter in our lives. So before I start a new job hunt, I want to be in a new area with new opportunities and new challenges.
Something new - the Seattle area is incredibly beautiful. We'll be living near Mt. Rainier which is a spectacular sight as you drive by from our new home just south of Tacoma into Seattle proper. The trees are abundant, the geography mountainous/hilly and the weather is nowhere near the hot and humid we experience every spring and summer in Houston. I will get to experience relatively allergy free symptoms - something I haven't experienced since the last time I was in the Seattle area some twenty plus years ago. We have some family and friends we'll be connecting with in the area, so that will be a refreshing change from when we originally came to Houston and knew no one. Hopefully that insight will make the job hunt a little easier - last time I went jobless in the IT industry in Houston, that lasted three years. I noticed it wouldn't be much easier this time around, so I wanted to go where the prospects might be a little richer. Getting laid off from IT jobs three times in Houston was enough to send me packing.
I'm also a newly professionally published author. Not quite ready to kick off the training wheels yet, but I'm ready to get back to writing book three after my relocation. It will be a new book in new surroundings. I will also get to participate in the Hugo Awards which is something I'd never even dreamed of. The Worldcon (World Science Fiction Convention) aka Sasquan is being held in Spokane, WA this year and I'm already signed up. I will briefly return to Houston for Space City Comic Con in July, even though I probably won't make back the travel expense.
Something borrowed - I'm on borrowed time financially speaking. While we've successfully sold our house in Houston, we've really only got funds for the first couple months' living expenses once we get to Seattle. It is an incredible leap of faith that we'll find enough money from jobs fast enough to keep our head above water. I'm sure there are safety nets I might pull on from family and friends, but that's never been something I've been comfortable doing. I do have some remote work possibilities setup already before I leave Houston, but you never know if those will bear fruit in a timely manner, so I'm not depending on them to come through. I'm hitting the ground running in Seattle and searching as soon as I get there.
Something blue - this is definitely a sad parting. I had hopes things would look up financially to stay here for a few more years, but the winds of fate have proven otherwise. There were projects I wanted to start and see through with friends here. I dreamed of completing the six planned books for The Chronicles of Reztap while I was physically in Houston as well. The old house just wouldn't have it and crapped out at just the right moment to have us searching for a solution. That solution turned out to be selling it to a rehab business and taking our modest gains and starting anew somewhere else. In a way, it seems fate led us to our final landing spot - the northwest of the USA. I've dreamed of returning to a prosperous wooded community on the West Coast for a long time. I'm sad to leave friends behind, but hopeful the new neighborhood will be welcoming and fruitful.
If you ever find yourself journeying up Seattle way, drop me a line. We love to have visitors and already plan on seeing old friends from across the country again before we even have everything unpacked.
Keep Dreaming!
Artemus
P.S. EDIT: This post was changed to reflect I will be going to Space City Comic Con after all.
Something old - I've lived in Houston longer than I've lived in any town my entire life. My wife and I have dreamed on moving to the northwest for nearly as long as we've been married, but we chose this phase of our life to be in Houston where our kids could go to the same schools all the way through high school graduation. Sure, job opportunities brought us here originally, but the desire for stability for our daughters kept us here. We desired something we didn't have - the chance to start and finish in the same high school. Was it worth it? In the end, I Don't know. My children have grown up to be stable and responsible, so that seems to have paid off, but then so are their parents and we had crazy instability growing up in different ways. I like to think it will help our kids lead better lives which is all we really want for them.
But the time has come to say goodbye to the old house, goodbye to friends and goodbye to old experiences. I think Houston was good to us in the long run and there are things I'll miss about it, but ultimately, it wasn't where we wanted to start the next chapter in our lives. So before I start a new job hunt, I want to be in a new area with new opportunities and new challenges.
Something new - the Seattle area is incredibly beautiful. We'll be living near Mt. Rainier which is a spectacular sight as you drive by from our new home just south of Tacoma into Seattle proper. The trees are abundant, the geography mountainous/hilly and the weather is nowhere near the hot and humid we experience every spring and summer in Houston. I will get to experience relatively allergy free symptoms - something I haven't experienced since the last time I was in the Seattle area some twenty plus years ago. We have some family and friends we'll be connecting with in the area, so that will be a refreshing change from when we originally came to Houston and knew no one. Hopefully that insight will make the job hunt a little easier - last time I went jobless in the IT industry in Houston, that lasted three years. I noticed it wouldn't be much easier this time around, so I wanted to go where the prospects might be a little richer. Getting laid off from IT jobs three times in Houston was enough to send me packing.
I'm also a newly professionally published author. Not quite ready to kick off the training wheels yet, but I'm ready to get back to writing book three after my relocation. It will be a new book in new surroundings. I will also get to participate in the Hugo Awards which is something I'd never even dreamed of. The Worldcon (World Science Fiction Convention) aka Sasquan is being held in Spokane, WA this year and I'm already signed up. I will briefly return to Houston for Space City Comic Con in July, even though I probably won't make back the travel expense.
Something borrowed - I'm on borrowed time financially speaking. While we've successfully sold our house in Houston, we've really only got funds for the first couple months' living expenses once we get to Seattle. It is an incredible leap of faith that we'll find enough money from jobs fast enough to keep our head above water. I'm sure there are safety nets I might pull on from family and friends, but that's never been something I've been comfortable doing. I do have some remote work possibilities setup already before I leave Houston, but you never know if those will bear fruit in a timely manner, so I'm not depending on them to come through. I'm hitting the ground running in Seattle and searching as soon as I get there.
Something blue - this is definitely a sad parting. I had hopes things would look up financially to stay here for a few more years, but the winds of fate have proven otherwise. There were projects I wanted to start and see through with friends here. I dreamed of completing the six planned books for The Chronicles of Reztap while I was physically in Houston as well. The old house just wouldn't have it and crapped out at just the right moment to have us searching for a solution. That solution turned out to be selling it to a rehab business and taking our modest gains and starting anew somewhere else. In a way, it seems fate led us to our final landing spot - the northwest of the USA. I've dreamed of returning to a prosperous wooded community on the West Coast for a long time. I'm sad to leave friends behind, but hopeful the new neighborhood will be welcoming and fruitful.
If you ever find yourself journeying up Seattle way, drop me a line. We love to have visitors and already plan on seeing old friends from across the country again before we even have everything unpacked.
Keep Dreaming!
Artemus
P.S. EDIT: This post was changed to reflect I will be going to Space City Comic Con after all.
Thursday, June 18, 2015
ApolloCon Appearance!
ApolloCon is just a heartbeat away! From June 19-21, I'll be appearing on several panels, doing book signings and will have a booth in the Dealer's Room to sell my wares and a few surprises.
This was a bit of a challenge, as I'm feeling all conventions are going to be. I remember AggieCon being a bit of a struggle, but I chalked that off to college kids in brand new Con roles running what for them was probably their first Con. I hoped it would be a little smoother with ApolloCon, but alas that was not to be. The problem I had with getting on the list for panels had to do with a personnel change, so the guest chairman who had held the role disappeared due to personal reasons and didn't pass on all the emails agreeing that I'd be part of the program. I connected with the new guest liaison and got some push back since they had already submitted the program, but they got program changes and managed to squeeze me onto several panels amidst the changes. Very satisfying to have someone a bit flexible after I thought I'd already taken care of things! It also took the Dealer Room chairman a while to get me the payment information, but he never wavered on whether or not I had a table, so I was certain I'd always have that.
Given that rough start, you'd think I wouldn't be on many panels. I'm actually on six! I also have a reading the first day. I'm more than thrilled that my suddenly last minute inclusion on the panels was handled so well. When I heard my information hadn't been passed on, my heart sunk. Luckily, I skated in just under the wire to get in before the final program had truly been completed. I'm pretty pumped to be appearing with fellow authors who I used to watch at panels discussing writing topics. I'm even more excited to be sharing thoughts and ideas with a (hopefully) large audience at the panels! I've gotten a lot of interest from individual readers in my books after many panels and that's part of the drive to be on one, but I get so much enjoyment just sharing knowledge and answering questions for curious would-be writers and fans. I always learn something knew myself at these panels, not only from my fellow panel members but also from audience members.
There will be two book signings at ApolloCon. I probably have enough books to satisfy the attendees, but I'm disappointed I wasn't able to get book two, Reztap and the Quest for the Insane Moth out the door in time for this convention. I also suffered what others writers probably do coming to conventions frequently - a cash flow problem leading to inventory supply problems. I've probably compounded this by inserting activities for a cross-country move into my agenda. The timing is unfortunate and I had to hold money in reserve to pay for things I wouldn't have had to withhold otherwise.. In all honesty, I'll be tickled to sell out of my inventory, but I don't necessarily see that happening. I will probably have a good supply left over to pass on to Triscelle Publishing to sell for me at their next upcoming event - Space City Comic Con. I hope to attend Space City Comic Con myself, but now the travel costs from Seattle, WA (where I'll be relocating to next week) will probably be prohibitive to attend. I tried contacting the guest liaison about appearing at the con, but got no response. I may still do it if I can get a good head of pre-marketing steam on book two and get it out the door in time. In other words, I'm still on the fence about it.
What you should see when you pop by at ApolloCon this weekend is not only the Reztap books on sale (Mishaps and Mayhem & The Adventures of Reztap), but a few more books as well. I hope to have Triscelle Publishing bringing their books (The Morrigan's Brood series) and a few other authors books as well. I'm hoping a little diversity at the booth will bring in more customers. Most important at the booth - my lovely missus will be there as well, handling sales while I'm on those six panels, my reading and at the signing table. So come on by and check out my lovely wife!
Moving preparations have delayed this post significantly. I'd be a little more verbose, but this sucker has to get published or it will be old news before it hits the internet. Hope to see you all out at ApolloCon!
Regards,
Artemus
There will be two book signings at ApolloCon. I probably have enough books to satisfy the attendees, but I'm disappointed I wasn't able to get book two, Reztap and the Quest for the Insane Moth out the door in time for this convention. I also suffered what others writers probably do coming to conventions frequently - a cash flow problem leading to inventory supply problems. I've probably compounded this by inserting activities for a cross-country move into my agenda. The timing is unfortunate and I had to hold money in reserve to pay for things I wouldn't have had to withhold otherwise.. In all honesty, I'll be tickled to sell out of my inventory, but I don't necessarily see that happening. I will probably have a good supply left over to pass on to Triscelle Publishing to sell for me at their next upcoming event - Space City Comic Con. I hope to attend Space City Comic Con myself, but now the travel costs from Seattle, WA (where I'll be relocating to next week) will probably be prohibitive to attend. I tried contacting the guest liaison about appearing at the con, but got no response. I may still do it if I can get a good head of pre-marketing steam on book two and get it out the door in time. In other words, I'm still on the fence about it.
What you should see when you pop by at ApolloCon this weekend is not only the Reztap books on sale (Mishaps and Mayhem & The Adventures of Reztap), but a few more books as well. I hope to have Triscelle Publishing bringing their books (The Morrigan's Brood series) and a few other authors books as well. I'm hoping a little diversity at the booth will bring in more customers. Most important at the booth - my lovely missus will be there as well, handling sales while I'm on those six panels, my reading and at the signing table. So come on by and check out my lovely wife!
Moving preparations have delayed this post significantly. I'd be a little more verbose, but this sucker has to get published or it will be old news before it hits the internet. Hope to see you all out at ApolloCon!
Regards,
Artemus
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Reviews Revisited - Is Buying Reviews The Only Way To Get Them?
It's been a month since my last post on reviews and how I'm trying to get them. I thought it was prime time to update those of you who follow my blog on what I've found and where I stand at the moment. I've had a tepid response on Choosy Bookworm, a little better response on the giveaways of the prequel and find myself at a crossroads about the book review scene.
As you may recall, I signed up with Choosy Bookworm's offer a free eBook and possibly get a review service. In the month five weeks that have transpired, I received eight emails from interested reviewers, five of whom actually returned an email to get the free eBook. One of those four was a relative and the other a friend. That puts That puts me well short of the 50+ emails I should have theoretically received from interested parties. To be fair, it's only been a month. Science fiction books take a while to get a response, even among those who troll the Choosy Bookworm web site looking to get free eBooks. Of the five who responded, a month later, I've yet to see a review - even by my friend or relative. It's disheartening, to say the least. I'm hoping this kind of experience I've had informs other writers looking to garner reviews for their masterpieces. It's not an easy road, fellow scribes.
Jumping to my next adventure in reviews - book 0, the prequel. I recently gave away 35 copies of that eBook (Mishaps and Mayhem) to attendees of Comicpalooza who signed up for it. I sent them each instructions on the review process in hopes they might drop a kind word on Amazon about their experience. Of those 35, I haven't heard a word or seen a review, but that was literally only a week ago. I'm still hopeful that volume will produce some results.
Three reviews HAVE posted to Amazon for Mishaps and Mayhem, though! Two were from the free eBook giveaway during the launch week of The Adventures of Reztap and another was from an actual customer - someone who bought the paperback Mishaps and Mayhem (and The Adventures of Reztap) from me at AggieCon. An incredibly large number of free eBooks were given away that first week of March, so I'm hopeful there may be more reviews coming from that initial giveaway launch and possibly from the Comicpalooza giveaway.
Let's look at the timing for a moment. From the initial launch of Mishaps and Mayhem, it took nearly two months to garner three reviews, two of which were generated from the free giveaway (but were not given in "exchange" for a review, so there did not need to be a disclaimer for it in any of the reviews.) I'm not saying the free giveaway was worth it from the Amazon point of view - I personally know all three of the reviewers and they're definitely being kind to post a review. It was not from the altruistic reactions of strangers that I received any reviews at all. So, is it too soon to expect reviews from others for both books? Perhaps.
That brings me to another realization. Given the way my publishing process has worked in the past, giving away ARCs (Advanced Reading Copies) may be an important part of the marketing strategy I've been unable to capitalize on. The editor back and forth between me and my editor often happened just days before the book actually launched. A completely edited copy would've only been available at most a day or two before the book went live. That's hardly enough time to send out ARCs with any expectation of a review posting close to when the book launches.
This may precipitate the delay of book two, if that's even possible. I may be locked into it launching this month regardless, and I hardly have time to modify that agreement with other things happening right now. I'm due to make an appearance at ApolloCon at the end of June and it will be one of my last marketing opportunities this year to give book two a push at a live event. I'll have better luck making that happen with book three.
I've seen some amazing and downright unlikely review jumps for brand new books from unknown authors - case in point The Sigil Blade by Jeff Wilson. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's a fine novel, but it has 32 reviews already and it's been out for just over five weeks. New author, five weeks, and 32 reviews. So many reviews and sales that it's now being promoted by Amazon. Given my own experience, I have to wonder how this book got those reviews so fast. Some of the reviews are dated the day the book came out. I'm a fast reader, but it's highly unlikely I'd be able to whip through a 400-page book and retain enough of the story to make a fair review of the book AND write it the same day. Does this mean advance copies went out to readers or was there some purchasing behind the scenes going on for reviews? In just the first few pages, I noted there was probably no editor for the book, given credence by some of the less than stellar reviews of the book. However, there were many five star reviews that came in essentially the day the book was published. I don't want to knock the author - I haven't read the entire book. I do want to commend him on his understanding of the Amazon marketing engine. Get enough positive reviews up as quickly as possible and Amazon quite literally does the selling for you. Did he pay for reviews? I honestly can't tell. I do think he has a loyal following of friends and family that put the majority of the reviews into place sucking in additional buyers - this propelled the book to a status that had others buying it simply because it appeared popular. A self-propelling perpetual sales engine if you will. However, my understanding is that it will not get the same lump of readers to buy the sequel if this one isn't written well. It's a way to sell one book, but not to sell a book series, IMHO.
So it comes to this - what's a budding writer to do? I'm still keen to wait another month and see what transpires. Maybe I'll even have my sales figures from my publisher by then and be able to cross-reference my marketing attempts to see what pays off. I haven't given up hope of getting some reviews for The Adventures of Reztap yet. But if it hasn't blossomed by then, I may have to go the way of The Sigil Blade...
Explore and Review!
Artemus
As you may recall, I signed up with Choosy Bookworm's offer a free eBook and possibly get a review service. In the month five weeks that have transpired, I received eight emails from interested reviewers, five of whom actually returned an email to get the free eBook. One of those four was a relative and the other a friend. That puts That puts me well short of the 50+ emails I should have theoretically received from interested parties. To be fair, it's only been a month. Science fiction books take a while to get a response, even among those who troll the Choosy Bookworm web site looking to get free eBooks. Of the five who responded, a month later, I've yet to see a review - even by my friend or relative. It's disheartening, to say the least. I'm hoping this kind of experience I've had informs other writers looking to garner reviews for their masterpieces. It's not an easy road, fellow scribes.
Jumping to my next adventure in reviews - book 0, the prequel. I recently gave away 35 copies of that eBook (Mishaps and Mayhem) to attendees of Comicpalooza who signed up for it. I sent them each instructions on the review process in hopes they might drop a kind word on Amazon about their experience. Of those 35, I haven't heard a word or seen a review, but that was literally only a week ago. I'm still hopeful that volume will produce some results.
Three reviews HAVE posted to Amazon for Mishaps and Mayhem, though! Two were from the free eBook giveaway during the launch week of The Adventures of Reztap and another was from an actual customer - someone who bought the paperback Mishaps and Mayhem (and The Adventures of Reztap) from me at AggieCon. An incredibly large number of free eBooks were given away that first week of March, so I'm hopeful there may be more reviews coming from that initial giveaway launch and possibly from the Comicpalooza giveaway.
Let's look at the timing for a moment. From the initial launch of Mishaps and Mayhem, it took nearly two months to garner three reviews, two of which were generated from the free giveaway (but were not given in "exchange" for a review, so there did not need to be a disclaimer for it in any of the reviews.) I'm not saying the free giveaway was worth it from the Amazon point of view - I personally know all three of the reviewers and they're definitely being kind to post a review. It was not from the altruistic reactions of strangers that I received any reviews at all. So, is it too soon to expect reviews from others for both books? Perhaps.
That brings me to another realization. Given the way my publishing process has worked in the past, giving away ARCs (Advanced Reading Copies) may be an important part of the marketing strategy I've been unable to capitalize on. The editor back and forth between me and my editor often happened just days before the book actually launched. A completely edited copy would've only been available at most a day or two before the book went live. That's hardly enough time to send out ARCs with any expectation of a review posting close to when the book launches.
This may precipitate the delay of book two, if that's even possible. I may be locked into it launching this month regardless, and I hardly have time to modify that agreement with other things happening right now. I'm due to make an appearance at ApolloCon at the end of June and it will be one of my last marketing opportunities this year to give book two a push at a live event. I'll have better luck making that happen with book three.
I've seen some amazing and downright unlikely review jumps for brand new books from unknown authors - case in point The Sigil Blade by Jeff Wilson. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's a fine novel, but it has 32 reviews already and it's been out for just over five weeks. New author, five weeks, and 32 reviews. So many reviews and sales that it's now being promoted by Amazon. Given my own experience, I have to wonder how this book got those reviews so fast. Some of the reviews are dated the day the book came out. I'm a fast reader, but it's highly unlikely I'd be able to whip through a 400-page book and retain enough of the story to make a fair review of the book AND write it the same day. Does this mean advance copies went out to readers or was there some purchasing behind the scenes going on for reviews? In just the first few pages, I noted there was probably no editor for the book, given credence by some of the less than stellar reviews of the book. However, there were many five star reviews that came in essentially the day the book was published. I don't want to knock the author - I haven't read the entire book. I do want to commend him on his understanding of the Amazon marketing engine. Get enough positive reviews up as quickly as possible and Amazon quite literally does the selling for you. Did he pay for reviews? I honestly can't tell. I do think he has a loyal following of friends and family that put the majority of the reviews into place sucking in additional buyers - this propelled the book to a status that had others buying it simply because it appeared popular. A self-propelling perpetual sales engine if you will. However, my understanding is that it will not get the same lump of readers to buy the sequel if this one isn't written well. It's a way to sell one book, but not to sell a book series, IMHO.
So it comes to this - what's a budding writer to do? I'm still keen to wait another month and see what transpires. Maybe I'll even have my sales figures from my publisher by then and be able to cross-reference my marketing attempts to see what pays off. I haven't given up hope of getting some reviews for The Adventures of Reztap yet. But if it hasn't blossomed by then, I may have to go the way of The Sigil Blade...
Explore and Review!
Artemus
Monday, June 1, 2015
Comicpalooza 2015 Post Mortem
Four intense days of rubbing elbows with fellow fans and some celebrities has come to an end as Comicpalooza 2015 closed it's doors shortly before a deluge of rain flooded out large portions of Houston and the surrounding area. What did I take away from the experience? Were there incredible sales numbers for Mishaps and Mayhem and The Adventures of Reztap? Did I meet any celebrities? Where there interesting sights and sounds?
I had a lot of fun hanging out with the Triscelle Publishing crew, Heather Poinsett Dunbar and her husband Christopher Dunbar (co-authors of the Morrigan's Brood series), Maeve Alpin (author of As Timeless As Stone among other steampunk novels and also a writer of other books under another pseudonym), and Donna - a close friend of the Dunbars who helps out at many a con. Numerous other friends and colleagues stopped by to chat and browse. In short, had my presence at the con been solely for enjoying myself and hanging out with great people, I fulfilled that in spades!
Sales of Mishaps and Mayhem and The Adventures of Reztap were fair. Nothing outstanding, but definitely better than my previous two public appearances combined. I previously sold a total of 9 books between HAB 2015 and AggieCon, but at Comicpalooza I sold a total of 17 books! Meeting and discussing my books (in other words, hawking them) was a fun experience, especially when the listeners were intrigued enough to buy them. Did I make any money? Actually, no, but I came close to breaking even. The upside to the experience though was signing people up for a free PDF ebook of Mishaps and Mayhem - I got 35 people to sign up! That in itself was probably worth it. If they like the ebook, they're more likely to become loyal readers and that potential means future sales of both The Adventures of Reztap and the sequel coming out next month, Reztap and the Quest for the Insane Moth!
I did also have the opportunity to donate some books and a little cash to The Stan Lee Foundation! I really felt a connection to their stated desire to provide equal access to literacy and education. I think education is the great equalizer in society and I'd like everyone to have a fair opportunity t rise to the occasion and be successful - it seems to me this is a great fledgling organization and worthy of both my support and yours! So pop in and give them a visit.
Also got to take a pic for charity with the Mach V (replica) from the Speed Racer cartoon series:
If you've read Mishaps and Mayhem, you may recognize a reference to this vehicle in one of the stories. If you do, I'd love to hear from you. I sprinkle a lot of references to different shows and concepts in the Chronicles of Reztap - it will be interesting to hear how many people catch some of them if not all.
I got a signed pic from Barry Bostwick (Rocky Horror Picture Show, Spin City, et al) and left him a Reztap bookmark. Who knows if he'll read it or not, but I really enjoyed chatting with him for a few moments and his personalized message to me on the photo. He's a really nice guy with a wonderful sense of humor.
There were dozens of celebrities there from all walks of entertainment - actors and actresses, comic book and regular writers and artists, cosplayers, and some technical crew people of some fame including makeup artists and model builders. There was a lot to see and do. I only visited a fraction of what I wanted, but I was technically there to work, not to just enjoy the con. This year it was so much bigger than when I got to it just two years ago! There were thousands in attendance each day - I think they topped ten thousand on Saturday!
It was by far the largest convention I'd ever attended.
I was really astounded by the complexity of some of the cosplayers' costumes. While I didn't recognize every character, I did appreciate the time and effort they put into their presentation. Seeing some of the little kids dressed in costume too just brought a smile to my face - this was truly a family friendly event and I was glad to see so many families there enjoying the con.
I hope you were able to make it out to Comicpalooza even if you weren't able to see me. I will be at ApolloCon in June 2015, where I should have book 2, Reztap and the Quest for the Insane Moth - hope to see you there, especially if you couldn't see me at Comicpalooza!
Happy Conning!
Artemus
I had a lot of fun hanging out with the Triscelle Publishing crew, Heather Poinsett Dunbar and her husband Christopher Dunbar (co-authors of the Morrigan's Brood series), Maeve Alpin (author of As Timeless As Stone among other steampunk novels and also a writer of other books under another pseudonym), and Donna - a close friend of the Dunbars who helps out at many a con. Numerous other friends and colleagues stopped by to chat and browse. In short, had my presence at the con been solely for enjoying myself and hanging out with great people, I fulfilled that in spades!
Sales of Mishaps and Mayhem and The Adventures of Reztap were fair. Nothing outstanding, but definitely better than my previous two public appearances combined. I previously sold a total of 9 books between HAB 2015 and AggieCon, but at Comicpalooza I sold a total of 17 books! Meeting and discussing my books (in other words, hawking them) was a fun experience, especially when the listeners were intrigued enough to buy them. Did I make any money? Actually, no, but I came close to breaking even. The upside to the experience though was signing people up for a free PDF ebook of Mishaps and Mayhem - I got 35 people to sign up! That in itself was probably worth it. If they like the ebook, they're more likely to become loyal readers and that potential means future sales of both The Adventures of Reztap and the sequel coming out next month, Reztap and the Quest for the Insane Moth!
I did also have the opportunity to donate some books and a little cash to The Stan Lee Foundation! I really felt a connection to their stated desire to provide equal access to literacy and education. I think education is the great equalizer in society and I'd like everyone to have a fair opportunity t rise to the occasion and be successful - it seems to me this is a great fledgling organization and worthy of both my support and yours! So pop in and give them a visit.
Also got to take a pic for charity with the Mach V (replica) from the Speed Racer cartoon series:
If you've read Mishaps and Mayhem, you may recognize a reference to this vehicle in one of the stories. If you do, I'd love to hear from you. I sprinkle a lot of references to different shows and concepts in the Chronicles of Reztap - it will be interesting to hear how many people catch some of them if not all.
I got a signed pic from Barry Bostwick (Rocky Horror Picture Show, Spin City, et al) and left him a Reztap bookmark. Who knows if he'll read it or not, but I really enjoyed chatting with him for a few moments and his personalized message to me on the photo. He's a really nice guy with a wonderful sense of humor.
There were dozens of celebrities there from all walks of entertainment - actors and actresses, comic book and regular writers and artists, cosplayers, and some technical crew people of some fame including makeup artists and model builders. There was a lot to see and do. I only visited a fraction of what I wanted, but I was technically there to work, not to just enjoy the con. This year it was so much bigger than when I got to it just two years ago! There were thousands in attendance each day - I think they topped ten thousand on Saturday!
It was by far the largest convention I'd ever attended.
I was really astounded by the complexity of some of the cosplayers' costumes. While I didn't recognize every character, I did appreciate the time and effort they put into their presentation. Seeing some of the little kids dressed in costume too just brought a smile to my face - this was truly a family friendly event and I was glad to see so many families there enjoying the con.
I hope you were able to make it out to Comicpalooza even if you weren't able to see me. I will be at ApolloCon in June 2015, where I should have book 2, Reztap and the Quest for the Insane Moth - hope to see you there, especially if you couldn't see me at Comicpalooza!
Happy Conning!
Artemus
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Beaten and Broken!
So dramatic. I do admit to being beaten and broken (nearly) when it comes to getting reviews. I haven't given up entirely, but the tradition routes have offered little in the way of fruit. My request for reviews have, in a sense, been almost completely fruitless!
FAIR WARNING: This blog post gets a bit analytical...you've been warned...in triplicate!
Try as I might, the simple request for reviews from family, friends, old co-workers, fellow writers and even the mailman have come up practically empty. I did manage to get one friend, who I haven't ever met in person, to write a review for Mishaps after he downloaded a copy of it and read it during the free Amazon giveaway period. He rated it a 4, which I value highly as a well reasoned review accompanying the rating.
Is Mishaps and Mayhem any good? I've actually gotten raves about it in person - one enthusiastic reader laughed out loud while reading it during a convention as I chatted with someone else. They liked it so much, they bought Adventures as well! This was a fellow author. If I can make a fellow author laugh, it must be at least passably decent writing. Of the other comments I've had about that book, they've loved it. To be fair, I actually wrote the prequel AFTER writing book one and two, so I had a really good handle on my characters, writing style and insight from the editing process on Adventures - it was, in short, the third book I'd written, so it should be pretty good, right?
Onto Adventures of Reztap! Is it any good? My editor, publisher and another friend (who read the first edition) thought it was a great laugh and good fun! I'll have to find out if my author friend liked it as much, hopefully at the upcoming Comicpalooza here in Houston. I will be attending the convention and displaying and selling my wares at a booth rented by Triscelle Publishing - they were so impressed with the books they offered to give me shelf space to sell Mishaps and Mayhem and Adventures alongside their own books. I feel incredibly honored that they have shared that space and their time and effort to help me get a leg up. I wasn't able to get a booth at Comicpalooza this year, so that's my only way of getting exposure. Very nice people at Triscelle Publishing! (They offered after several hours of interaction and upon a reading of one of my books - I did NOT ask. This was a gracious gift, not a negotiation after I requested anything - so please don't pester them, but do buy their books!)
But, what does that have to do with reviews? The author who loves my book hasn't written a review, and I know she loves it! What's a writer to do? I've met the system halfway. Amazon does allow for free copies to be given away in exchange for an honest review (provided the reviewer include the following disclaimer "I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review" in their review.) Easy as pie, right?
Consider Mishaps and Mayhem was free for five days, downloaded countless times (I really don't know how many times - only my publisher does and they haven't told me yet - but it was in the top 7,000 free Kindle downloads by the end), and I personally requested a group of friends to download it (for FREE) and please review it - and I got ONE review! So, no, not easy at all. Luckily (I hope), I found a service that will post my free offer to prospective reviewers with the implied agreement they will post an honest review in exchange for the free eBook. Enter Choosy Bookworm! Don't applaud just yet, the service to post my book offer isn't free, but I'm at a desperate point for some reviews. You can't pay for reviews (according to Amazon's term of service), which this does not do. I'm paying an advertising fee to get my "book offer" in front of "mostly" reliable reviewers. The reviewers themselves get no money - they only get a free eBook.
Interested in a free eBook of The Adventures of Reztap? Check out the page at Choosy Bookworm and sign up!
So, I still haven't gone down the "disreputable road" of paying for reviews. Are other authors paying to get reviews? I checked out the top twenty or so best selling Amazon science fiction eBooks. The range of reviews rank from 2 to literally over 10,000! None have "zero" reviews. The ones with few reviews appear to have a built-in audience - these are writers who have already gathered a large number of fans/readers, so the reviews may not mean that much in relation to sales. The only correlation I saw for sales was no one had "no" reviews. Did anyone pay for them, though? Not that I could tell. I'm also not an expert at culling through reams of data looking for patterns. I'd give you a detailed analysis of my research methods, but that would be painfully boring. Suffice it to say, I see some value in having a few reviews. I don't necessarily need 10,000!
With no built-in fan base, I'm starting from scratch. I didn't see any debut authors in the top twenty list. That may be something to hope for a few books down the line or maybe even with another series after I've built up a solid foundation of readers and fans. I'm SOOOO jumping the gun that I'll actually build a foundation of fans, but I'm trying to be optimistic here! I'm hoping I see good sales after another book or two comes out. I have to prime the pump beforehand with advance copies to get reviews on Amazon as SOON as book two comes out.
I think that's about all the analytics you're going to get from me tonight. Happy reviewing!
Regards,
Artemus
FAIR WARNING: This blog post gets a bit analytical...you've been warned...in triplicate!
Try as I might, the simple request for reviews from family, friends, old co-workers, fellow writers and even the mailman have come up practically empty. I did manage to get one friend, who I haven't ever met in person, to write a review for Mishaps after he downloaded a copy of it and read it during the free Amazon giveaway period. He rated it a 4, which I value highly as a well reasoned review accompanying the rating.
Is Mishaps and Mayhem any good? I've actually gotten raves about it in person - one enthusiastic reader laughed out loud while reading it during a convention as I chatted with someone else. They liked it so much, they bought Adventures as well! This was a fellow author. If I can make a fellow author laugh, it must be at least passably decent writing. Of the other comments I've had about that book, they've loved it. To be fair, I actually wrote the prequel AFTER writing book one and two, so I had a really good handle on my characters, writing style and insight from the editing process on Adventures - it was, in short, the third book I'd written, so it should be pretty good, right?
Onto Adventures of Reztap! Is it any good? My editor, publisher and another friend (who read the first edition) thought it was a great laugh and good fun! I'll have to find out if my author friend liked it as much, hopefully at the upcoming Comicpalooza here in Houston. I will be attending the convention and displaying and selling my wares at a booth rented by Triscelle Publishing - they were so impressed with the books they offered to give me shelf space to sell Mishaps and Mayhem and Adventures alongside their own books. I feel incredibly honored that they have shared that space and their time and effort to help me get a leg up. I wasn't able to get a booth at Comicpalooza this year, so that's my only way of getting exposure. Very nice people at Triscelle Publishing! (They offered after several hours of interaction and upon a reading of one of my books - I did NOT ask. This was a gracious gift, not a negotiation after I requested anything - so please don't pester them, but do buy their books!)
But, what does that have to do with reviews? The author who loves my book hasn't written a review, and I know she loves it! What's a writer to do? I've met the system halfway. Amazon does allow for free copies to be given away in exchange for an honest review (provided the reviewer include the following disclaimer "I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review" in their review.) Easy as pie, right?
Consider Mishaps and Mayhem was free for five days, downloaded countless times (I really don't know how many times - only my publisher does and they haven't told me yet - but it was in the top 7,000 free Kindle downloads by the end), and I personally requested a group of friends to download it (for FREE) and please review it - and I got ONE review! So, no, not easy at all. Luckily (I hope), I found a service that will post my free offer to prospective reviewers with the implied agreement they will post an honest review in exchange for the free eBook. Enter Choosy Bookworm! Don't applaud just yet, the service to post my book offer isn't free, but I'm at a desperate point for some reviews. You can't pay for reviews (according to Amazon's term of service), which this does not do. I'm paying an advertising fee to get my "book offer" in front of "mostly" reliable reviewers. The reviewers themselves get no money - they only get a free eBook.
Interested in a free eBook of The Adventures of Reztap? Check out the page at Choosy Bookworm and sign up!
So, I still haven't gone down the "disreputable road" of paying for reviews. Are other authors paying to get reviews? I checked out the top twenty or so best selling Amazon science fiction eBooks. The range of reviews rank from 2 to literally over 10,000! None have "zero" reviews. The ones with few reviews appear to have a built-in audience - these are writers who have already gathered a large number of fans/readers, so the reviews may not mean that much in relation to sales. The only correlation I saw for sales was no one had "no" reviews. Did anyone pay for them, though? Not that I could tell. I'm also not an expert at culling through reams of data looking for patterns. I'd give you a detailed analysis of my research methods, but that would be painfully boring. Suffice it to say, I see some value in having a few reviews. I don't necessarily need 10,000!
With no built-in fan base, I'm starting from scratch. I didn't see any debut authors in the top twenty list. That may be something to hope for a few books down the line or maybe even with another series after I've built up a solid foundation of readers and fans. I'm SOOOO jumping the gun that I'll actually build a foundation of fans, but I'm trying to be optimistic here! I'm hoping I see good sales after another book or two comes out. I have to prime the pump beforehand with advance copies to get reviews on Amazon as SOON as book two comes out.
I think that's about all the analytics you're going to get from me tonight. Happy reviewing!
Regards,
Artemus
Monday, April 6, 2015
I've Had It!
I reached the breaking point a few days ago. I don't want this to come as a shock to anyone, so I'm going to lay it out there. I've had it with my computer. We're done. It will be retired soon.
I've had an extensive career in the computer industry working on the first IBM PC with a 10Mb hard drive while I was in the Air Force. that, I played around with a Commodore 128 even going so far as to digitize the opening credits of a home movie based on The Adventures of Reztap. Yes, the book has been around in various stages for a very long time. I'll count it a blessing that VHS is nearly extinct and the likelihood of me appearing as Chuck in a pink shirt on some You Tube channel is incredibly remote. The film exists but I'm fairly certain it has been lost to the sands of time. Ask me at ApolloCon or Sasquan why I appear as Chuck and not someone else. It's an interesting story.
I used a Xerox Star computer, what could arguably be called the forerunner to Windows. I was at the forefront of networking technology and the internet in the military when Novell 2 came out and actually became a network engineer using Novell 3.12. I've seen my share of PCs in that space from the Zenith Z-100 the way thru the different PCs that came out on a bevy of government contracts sporting Windows 3.11. In later years I watched PC technology on the Microsoft version grow and expend, at times being infuriating in it's complexity or bugginess, but also nodding my head at some good engineering or, at the very least, some savvy use of monopoly muscle to absorb and defeat competitors.
All the while I wished I could afford the other personal computer branch of technology that seemed more interesting and better engineered. It could not use monopolistic muscle because it didn't have it. This was, of course, the Apple computers of the day. I remember using Apple IICs in school when I was younger. I had a friend had an early Macintosh computer in the late 80s and it seemed it could do so any more wonderful things than the plain PC I owned. But, I was in the military, attending college and raising three daughter(with the invaluable aid of my lovely wife...okay, I really aided her.) There was no way I'd be able to afford the Cadillac of computers for the day.
Jump forward to my current PC. It's not current, but it used to be stable. A Windows 7 operating system on a modest PC. Nothing fancy, but powerful enough to do some graphic manipulation and, more importantly, easily able to allow me to write on. At least, it was until a few months ago. The computer is completely updated, has virus software installed and doesn't appear to be bogged down by and spyware. It is, however, making it nigh impossible to write on. Every few seconds or minutes, it varies, the application I'm working on will "lose focus". If I'm writing something, it will simply stop capturing my keystrokes and words and move focus to another application or just to nothing at all. Sometimes it comes back and continues to take my words, while missing a large (or small) chunk of what I've written. It drove me crazy editing book two, Reztap and the Quest for the Insane Moth. I had to correct my corrections,and then go back and correct those. I've tried writing book three, but I'm simply getting mad at the computer. Not healthy for combating writer's block caused by the problems in the first place.
As I need to a computer capable of doing professional level voice over work as well as allow me to simply write, I finally made the switch. My Apple iMac should be arriving this week. I'll be learning a new operating system somewhat. I have used Apples before but, other than my iPhone and iPad, I've never owned one besides an eMac a friend of mine gifted to me years ago. I used it to edit video back then and was suitably impressed. It isn't functional for what I need it for and was outdated years ago. Now, with at least a temporary ability to afford the somewhat high end computer, I've finally taken the leap.
Did I try to fix my Windows 7 PC? Absolutely. It just became a hassle to search for solutions, implement them and have them not work. In a business setting, I would simply reimage the computer - set it up from scratch and reinstall the necessary drivers and programs. I can envision doing that with my current computer and losing touch for days as I try to get it up and running again. That is too much time and way more trouble than I want to go through. I will probably still utilize it for a while as I transition over to the Mac, but other than this blog post (which has been interrupted multiple times by that infuriating focus loss), I will likely never write on it again. I know, Windows fans will ask why I didn't get a Windows 8 computer. The answer is simple. I didn't like it. I've done some consulting work on the side and I just didn't care for the metro interface. Doing the voice over work I want to do (audio books for Reztap on the immediate horizon) is simple on the Mac and always a bit more of a work-around on the PC. I get the gut impression the work will be substandard from the PC. It has been that way in the past. I'm simply jumping ship now while I've got the chance.
Don't get me wrong - I'm certain I'll still be doing consulting work (or more) with PCs in the future. This is the first time a Mac will be my primary personal computer, though. Wish me luck. Now I have to figure out how to get some ancient Windows programs to work on it to support my tele-RPG game with my friends in Illinois and Colorado.
Regards,
Artemus
I've had an extensive career in the computer industry working on the first IBM PC with a 10Mb hard drive while I was in the Air Force. that, I played around with a Commodore 128 even going so far as to digitize the opening credits of a home movie based on The Adventures of Reztap. Yes, the book has been around in various stages for a very long time. I'll count it a blessing that VHS is nearly extinct and the likelihood of me appearing as Chuck in a pink shirt on some You Tube channel is incredibly remote. The film exists but I'm fairly certain it has been lost to the sands of time. Ask me at ApolloCon or Sasquan why I appear as Chuck and not someone else. It's an interesting story.
I used a Xerox Star computer, what could arguably be called the forerunner to Windows. I was at the forefront of networking technology and the internet in the military when Novell 2 came out and actually became a network engineer using Novell 3.12. I've seen my share of PCs in that space from the Zenith Z-100 the way thru the different PCs that came out on a bevy of government contracts sporting Windows 3.11. In later years I watched PC technology on the Microsoft version grow and expend, at times being infuriating in it's complexity or bugginess, but also nodding my head at some good engineering or, at the very least, some savvy use of monopoly muscle to absorb and defeat competitors.
All the while I wished I could afford the other personal computer branch of technology that seemed more interesting and better engineered. It could not use monopolistic muscle because it didn't have it. This was, of course, the Apple computers of the day. I remember using Apple IICs in school when I was younger. I had a friend had an early Macintosh computer in the late 80s and it seemed it could do so any more wonderful things than the plain PC I owned. But, I was in the military, attending college and raising three daughter(with the invaluable aid of my lovely wife...okay, I really aided her.) There was no way I'd be able to afford the Cadillac of computers for the day.
Jump forward to my current PC. It's not current, but it used to be stable. A Windows 7 operating system on a modest PC. Nothing fancy, but powerful enough to do some graphic manipulation and, more importantly, easily able to allow me to write on. At least, it was until a few months ago. The computer is completely updated, has virus software installed and doesn't appear to be bogged down by and spyware. It is, however, making it nigh impossible to write on. Every few seconds or minutes, it varies, the application I'm working on will "lose focus". If I'm writing something, it will simply stop capturing my keystrokes and words and move focus to another application or just to nothing at all. Sometimes it comes back and continues to take my words, while missing a large (or small) chunk of what I've written. It drove me crazy editing book two, Reztap and the Quest for the Insane Moth. I had to correct my corrections,and then go back and correct those. I've tried writing book three, but I'm simply getting mad at the computer. Not healthy for combating writer's block caused by the problems in the first place.
As I need to a computer capable of doing professional level voice over work as well as allow me to simply write, I finally made the switch. My Apple iMac should be arriving this week. I'll be learning a new operating system somewhat. I have used Apples before but, other than my iPhone and iPad, I've never owned one besides an eMac a friend of mine gifted to me years ago. I used it to edit video back then and was suitably impressed. It isn't functional for what I need it for and was outdated years ago. Now, with at least a temporary ability to afford the somewhat high end computer, I've finally taken the leap.
Did I try to fix my Windows 7 PC? Absolutely. It just became a hassle to search for solutions, implement them and have them not work. In a business setting, I would simply reimage the computer - set it up from scratch and reinstall the necessary drivers and programs. I can envision doing that with my current computer and losing touch for days as I try to get it up and running again. That is too much time and way more trouble than I want to go through. I will probably still utilize it for a while as I transition over to the Mac, but other than this blog post (which has been interrupted multiple times by that infuriating focus loss), I will likely never write on it again. I know, Windows fans will ask why I didn't get a Windows 8 computer. The answer is simple. I didn't like it. I've done some consulting work on the side and I just didn't care for the metro interface. Doing the voice over work I want to do (audio books for Reztap on the immediate horizon) is simple on the Mac and always a bit more of a work-around on the PC. I get the gut impression the work will be substandard from the PC. It has been that way in the past. I'm simply jumping ship now while I've got the chance.
Don't get me wrong - I'm certain I'll still be doing consulting work (or more) with PCs in the future. This is the first time a Mac will be my primary personal computer, though. Wish me luck. Now I have to figure out how to get some ancient Windows programs to work on it to support my tele-RPG game with my friends in Illinois and Colorado.
Regards,
Artemus
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Launch!
The Adventures of Reztap has officially launched and shown up on the cover of the Publisher's Weekly Spring Catalog for 2015!
Along with the launch of the book is the launch of the Artemus Withers web site! A little tweaking here and there and it's looking pretty good. Want to go right to the book page? (You know you do!) If you sign up for the newsletter, you will get a free eBook for Mishaps and Mayhem, the short story primer for the Reztap universe. I should have this in eBook format shortly, so don't expect an immediate email, but definitely something in the next week.
Tucked in a bit of revision on book two as well. After everything I learned on the editing of book one, I've got a better handle on what I need to do with book two before it goes to the editor. At least it won't suffer the POV rewrite that book one did!
What else has been going on? A lot of marketing rigmarole has been passing through my keyboard! Blog tour articles and bios, setting up convention appearances (I'll be appearing on three panels at AggieCon 46), and trying to figure out which eBook listing services are worth it and which ones aren't. I'm still in a bit of a quandary on that one.
Launch day was a full day of web site updates, book notes from the publisher, social media updates, and web surfing to find marketing opportunities. I know this is probably one of the shortest blog posts I've done, but I'm working feverishly on getting things finalized and updated. Not sure how you get much writing done at this stage. Well, a long day turned into a long night. Now tomorrow is today and I get to do it all over again!
Happy writing, marketing, blogging, etc!
Regards,
Artemus
Along with the launch of the book is the launch of the Artemus Withers web site! A little tweaking here and there and it's looking pretty good. Want to go right to the book page? (You know you do!) If you sign up for the newsletter, you will get a free eBook for Mishaps and Mayhem, the short story primer for the Reztap universe. I should have this in eBook format shortly, so don't expect an immediate email, but definitely something in the next week.
Tucked in a bit of revision on book two as well. After everything I learned on the editing of book one, I've got a better handle on what I need to do with book two before it goes to the editor. At least it won't suffer the POV rewrite that book one did!
What else has been going on? A lot of marketing rigmarole has been passing through my keyboard! Blog tour articles and bios, setting up convention appearances (I'll be appearing on three panels at AggieCon 46), and trying to figure out which eBook listing services are worth it and which ones aren't. I'm still in a bit of a quandary on that one.
Launch day was a full day of web site updates, book notes from the publisher, social media updates, and web surfing to find marketing opportunities. I know this is probably one of the shortest blog posts I've done, but I'm working feverishly on getting things finalized and updated. Not sure how you get much writing done at this stage. Well, a long day turned into a long night. Now tomorrow is today and I get to do it all over again!
Happy writing, marketing, blogging, etc!
Regards,
Artemus
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Reztap on Publishers Weekly Cover (Spring 2015 Catalog)
The Adventures of Reztap will be one of several covers that get the honor of being on the cover of the Spring 2015 catalog of Publishers Weekly! There were 50 candidates (those who offered the additional funds for the honor), but I believe it's pared down to a dozen or so that make the cover. The others get to be included in the catalog inside at the reduced price of the inside "ad."
What does it mean, though? What kind of impact will this have on the future of my first professionally published book? Publishers Weekly has 26,000 subscribers, so at the very least there's a high probability that 26,000 new people will see my book cover that hadn't originally. That also means there are some booksellers and librarians out there that might order my book, stock my book, or at least take a chance on it that may not have otherwise. So, it's a start.
What it doesn't mean covers a wide variety. The normal Publisher's Weekly magazine has book reviews in it, which can really give a book additional exposure and sales. This is the catalog, though. It's the guide to booksellers about what's new and available, with nothing but a book cover and a brief synopsis to sway them one way or the other towards stocking a book. There is no review. The booksellers have to take a chance and order it. It will be seen by agents and Hollywood producers as well. But I'm taking that with an incredibly large grain of salt; my impression of today's top movie making engines is they're looking for true stories to make compelling films from, not a science fiction comedy. Still, a writing agent could be interested, pick up the book and shoot me an email. I may get other works produced with that kind of contact.
On the side of sales - this is a smaller publisher. These books are typically print on demand. Do they have to give refunds on the books that booksellers stock or is that just considered a sale? OK, these really are questions I should ask my publisher and I will. Right now, to be honest, it's a little gray to me what kind of real impact this will have. Certainly nothing's guaranteed. I could accidentally hit right in the middle of a big upswing in sales of science fiction humor books and suddenly be near the crest of a wave of sales! Just as easily, however, there could be a glut of these kinds of books gathering dust on the bargain table at Barnes & Noble. It's essentially impossible to tell.
One thing I do know - this is not the only marketing aspect of The Adventures of Reztap's journey. There will be blog tours, convention appearances, book signings, etc. all coming down the pike. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. If I suddenly get a flood of book orders the month following the release of the Publishers Weekly Spring 2015 catalog, I will be sure to up date you all.
Regards,
Artemus
Regards,
Artemus
Monday, March 2, 2015
Houston Authors Bash 2015 Post-Mortem
I made my first real appearance as Artemus Withers to the public on Saturday, February 28th at the Houston Authors Bash in Katy, TX. I had a book launch party earlier in the week, but my slightly less snazzy alter ego showed up there. As my first event, what did I learn, how did I think it went, and what do I think I (and the organizers) might do better next time?
Probably the biggest category is what did I learn. As I've never been to anything like this as a vendor/presenter/author, there are many behind the scenes things to take into account. I lucked out and had a publisher behind me with this one, so my table fee was taken care of and they helped me out with a large poster of my first book (went on a floor easel they also got for me). I had to provide my own table runner, swag giveaway stuff and two 8x10 posters of my book covers for the table (OK, I sprung for some with a thicker backing - my publisher (Chart House Press!) actually provided a printed 8x10 for my covers in a clear plastic stand-up frame). My short story book was there (I asked for a certain number and those were provided - yes, I will be paying for them so they weren't free.)
The author next to me offered a free ebook if people signed up for his newsletter. I immediately talked to my publisher about doing the same thing. Sure, that means giving Mishaps and Mayhem away for free as an ebook, but that was part of the plan anyway. This would be a great way to introduce readers to the Reztap universe - if they like it, that means future readers, fans and book buyers. I'll be enacting that on my web site as well. I have only to wait for the formatted ebook to be delivered so I can send it to my newsletter subscribers!
I had volunteered to be on a panel. Truth be told is what panel number two I thought I would be the most useful in, but I was placed on panel number one - street teaming. Not only did I not know what street teaming was, I was pretty certain I wouldn't be adding much content to the folks watching from the audience. As it turned out, the panel wasn't exactly as well organized and planned as one would hope for. There was no moderator, the authors weren't notified when the panel was starting and, for the most part, the panel was geared toward authors, not readers and fans, so our target audience was busy in the big room selling books and talking to readers while we did the panel for mostly, well, us! But all was not lost. I'd been to so many writing conferences and attended so many panels that I had no problem stepping in and acting as moderator. I learned so much from the other authors there about street teams and how they work, Facebook parties and other fan engagement tips that would strengthen your fan base and make them a part of the creative and marketing processes. I'd like to think other authors on the panel got some great ideas from each other as well. As for our five audience members, four of them were part of one authors street team!
The overall event went well enough. I sold seven books, traded one for another author's book (thanks Tom Glover!), and signed up eight people for my newsletter. That's 15 potential future readers (or more) for The Adventures of Reztap when it comes out! I also handed out 50 pieces of homemade swag (outer space themed foam stickers from Oriental Traders with hand cut personalized information on the front about the books and my website), so there's another potential 50 readers for my books! I think this was a success for my first big event.
What could I do better next time? I would've liked to have some better swag available. I'm currently looking into professional bookmarks and probably some business cards. something easy to hand out and preprinted. The foam stickers were fun, but they inadvertently painted my book toward a younger audience than I'd anticipated. My book covers, I've discovered from the foot traffic, are skewing to a lower age bracket than I'd intended also. Many people asked me about my kids' book - on even thought it was a graphic novel! My swag will need to be a little more sophisticated to balance that reastion out for sure. On the other hand, my book is profanity free and really doesn't have any graphic content, per se. There are some adult situations, but I've intentionally not gotten graphic in any of that. There is suggestion and innuendo, but that's certainly nothing a high school age reader or even a great majority of middle school readers wouldn't be shocked by. At the end of the day, some of the jokes may go over the heads of the more naive kids, but there's really not much in there a parent would find highly objectionable or corrupting. I suppose the references to holographic pornography chits is the most risque element in the book, but, as I said before, there are no graphic depictions accompanying them.
What did the organizers of the event take from this year's session? Number one - don't hold it on a Houston Rodeo weekend! We had half the traffic (or less) than last year when it was held the weekend before the rodeo started. On the panels - if the panels are going to be geared toward writers, they should be held after the doors close so the authors themselves can take advantage of the panels if they so choose. As it was, the authors had to choose between selling their books and meeting readers and fans to attend the panels. No readers attended the panels - I'm not sure this is really the venue for reader attended panels anyway. The feel of the HAB was one of people dropping by for perhaps an hour to browse through the offerings, perhaps chat with a few writers, buy a few books and then move on with the rest of their day. A casual book browsing or buying experience. It works out well as designed.
Will I attend this next year? Absolutely! I'll have three or four books available then and perhaps a bigger presence in the book market by then. I hope to engage with more readers and maybe introduce them to fellow authors when they come to see me. I think that's the biggest gift a successful author can give an up and coming author - a little extra traffic by their booth that might catch a new readers eye!
Keep writing my friends and watch for March 9th when The Adventures of Reztap comes out!
Probably the biggest category is what did I learn. As I've never been to anything like this as a vendor/presenter/author, there are many behind the scenes things to take into account. I lucked out and had a publisher behind me with this one, so my table fee was taken care of and they helped me out with a large poster of my first book (went on a floor easel they also got for me). I had to provide my own table runner, swag giveaway stuff and two 8x10 posters of my book covers for the table (OK, I sprung for some with a thicker backing - my publisher (Chart House Press!) actually provided a printed 8x10 for my covers in a clear plastic stand-up frame). My short story book was there (I asked for a certain number and those were provided - yes, I will be paying for them so they weren't free.)
The author next to me offered a free ebook if people signed up for his newsletter. I immediately talked to my publisher about doing the same thing. Sure, that means giving Mishaps and Mayhem away for free as an ebook, but that was part of the plan anyway. This would be a great way to introduce readers to the Reztap universe - if they like it, that means future readers, fans and book buyers. I'll be enacting that on my web site as well. I have only to wait for the formatted ebook to be delivered so I can send it to my newsletter subscribers!
I had volunteered to be on a panel. Truth be told is what panel number two I thought I would be the most useful in, but I was placed on panel number one - street teaming. Not only did I not know what street teaming was, I was pretty certain I wouldn't be adding much content to the folks watching from the audience. As it turned out, the panel wasn't exactly as well organized and planned as one would hope for. There was no moderator, the authors weren't notified when the panel was starting and, for the most part, the panel was geared toward authors, not readers and fans, so our target audience was busy in the big room selling books and talking to readers while we did the panel for mostly, well, us! But all was not lost. I'd been to so many writing conferences and attended so many panels that I had no problem stepping in and acting as moderator. I learned so much from the other authors there about street teams and how they work, Facebook parties and other fan engagement tips that would strengthen your fan base and make them a part of the creative and marketing processes. I'd like to think other authors on the panel got some great ideas from each other as well. As for our five audience members, four of them were part of one authors street team!
The overall event went well enough. I sold seven books, traded one for another author's book (thanks Tom Glover!), and signed up eight people for my newsletter. That's 15 potential future readers (or more) for The Adventures of Reztap when it comes out! I also handed out 50 pieces of homemade swag (outer space themed foam stickers from Oriental Traders with hand cut personalized information on the front about the books and my website), so there's another potential 50 readers for my books! I think this was a success for my first big event.
What could I do better next time? I would've liked to have some better swag available. I'm currently looking into professional bookmarks and probably some business cards. something easy to hand out and preprinted. The foam stickers were fun, but they inadvertently painted my book toward a younger audience than I'd anticipated. My book covers, I've discovered from the foot traffic, are skewing to a lower age bracket than I'd intended also. Many people asked me about my kids' book - on even thought it was a graphic novel! My swag will need to be a little more sophisticated to balance that reastion out for sure. On the other hand, my book is profanity free and really doesn't have any graphic content, per se. There are some adult situations, but I've intentionally not gotten graphic in any of that. There is suggestion and innuendo, but that's certainly nothing a high school age reader or even a great majority of middle school readers wouldn't be shocked by. At the end of the day, some of the jokes may go over the heads of the more naive kids, but there's really not much in there a parent would find highly objectionable or corrupting. I suppose the references to holographic pornography chits is the most risque element in the book, but, as I said before, there are no graphic depictions accompanying them.
What did the organizers of the event take from this year's session? Number one - don't hold it on a Houston Rodeo weekend! We had half the traffic (or less) than last year when it was held the weekend before the rodeo started. On the panels - if the panels are going to be geared toward writers, they should be held after the doors close so the authors themselves can take advantage of the panels if they so choose. As it was, the authors had to choose between selling their books and meeting readers and fans to attend the panels. No readers attended the panels - I'm not sure this is really the venue for reader attended panels anyway. The feel of the HAB was one of people dropping by for perhaps an hour to browse through the offerings, perhaps chat with a few writers, buy a few books and then move on with the rest of their day. A casual book browsing or buying experience. It works out well as designed.
Will I attend this next year? Absolutely! I'll have three or four books available then and perhaps a bigger presence in the book market by then. I hope to engage with more readers and maybe introduce them to fellow authors when they come to see me. I think that's the biggest gift a successful author can give an up and coming author - a little extra traffic by their booth that might catch a new readers eye!
Keep writing my friends and watch for March 9th when The Adventures of Reztap comes out!
Monday, October 20, 2014
The Future of Reztap is at Hand!
A little update on the recent happenings with The Adventures of Reztap and subsequent books:
I was looking for an actual editor (other than myself, who didn't do such a great job) to edit my first self-published novel, The Adventures of Reztap. Several people enjoyed reading it, but a few of my writer friends mentioned there were some bad editing errors. Lesson learned - don't edit your own stuff. There are multiple benefits from getting an editor, the primary ones are your work is 99% free of editing errors and the books are then eligible to be covered by large book reviewers (who will not review a book unless it has been professionally edited).
I had self-published my first book mostly to learn the ins and outs of self-publishing. I think I've learned many valuable lessons and felt ready to get book one professionally edited as well as book two (which I finished at the beginning of October). So, I contacted a person I knew thru my wife who was a freelance editor. My reason for going local was to get someone close who I could meet with if needed. I also had a good feeling knowing what this editor had done in the past, so I was pretty comfortable going with her. I thought it was good to try to hire locally as well.
I contacted the editor. She talked to me for about twenty minutes about the book before I sent it to her. Turns out, she was no longer doing freelance editing. She was now Director of Publishing at a small press here locally and their company would be interested in looking at my book and possibly publishing it. My initial thoughts on a traditional publisher were that it was a shot in the foot financially for a writer. Traditional publishers offer a 15% royalty on average for writers on book sales. She mentioned they did higher royalties and I was immediately interested. I haven't seen a contract offer yet, but it's still much better at first glance than a traditional publisher. It may be she's referring to ebook royalties and not print, but the royalties she mentioned sounded inline with the ones you get from Amazon and the ebook aggregators who publish to Apple and Barnes & Noble. I knew this since I'd already self published to both and those were the rates.
Now, they're not one of the big six traditional publishing houses, so it stands to reason they've got their eye on how to compete in today's market and offer an attractive package to savvy writers. Honestly, a 50% run on a print book is worth the investment if they're going to edit my book as well. I don't know how they would manage a 70% royalty to the writer on a printed title, though. There's more overhead with printing, even on a print on demand (POD) basis that would make that a very tight margin for a publisher, so I'm kind of guessing I won't quite be getting that. With a typical POD basis, I was looking at getting maybe 30% of the cover price. CreateSpace (a division of Amazon) gives a 37% royalty on books purchased thru Amazon (where most sales would likely come from) and a 57% royalty on print titles thru the CreateSpace estore. I'm thinking for a smaller publisher than CreateSpace, a 50-70% royalty would be a little high. Then again, maybe I'm wrong and they've really been able to bring down the actual physical costs of printing a hard copy of a book. But really, I think she meant ebook rates and not print rates. I need to see a contract to be sure, but if nothing else, something better than 15% is going to peak my interest.
The thing I'm chomping at the bit about is speed, of course. It's been a little over five weeks since I submitted book one to the publisher. I know, that sounds like a reasonable enough time to get an answer, but consider what route I would go thru with a traditional publisher. First, I would submit the book. The soonest I would get a reply from a large publishing house would be six to eight weeks, although it could reasonably take several months longer...and that's just to get what would likely be a rejection slip on what would be a 15% royalty (max) if they published. I've actually got the ear of the Director of Publishing. She doesn't mind hearing from me once a week and giving me an update on progress. I simply would not get that thru a traditional publisher - in fact, I'd probably be dependent on my agent for all correspondence and negotiations with the publisher. Well, I don't have an agent, so I'm already skipping one piece of the process with a direct line to the publisher. Of course, the biggest factor in all of this is I was just looking to pay someone to edit my book for me; getting an offer to have it published (and hopefully get some kind of advance on it), well, I can only say it sounds like something I've dreamed of since I was in high school. I think I can wait a few weeks to see how this all plays out.
In the mean time, I finished my second book in the series (also submitted that to the editor) and compiled a short list of the future books I have planned in the series also with a short synopsis of each book. One of the things that had interested her in my initial conversation was my intentions to write sequels. I think they're looking for regular writers who produce often. I'm only too happy to oblige! Of course, if they pass on publishing, I'm really not out too much except a little bit of time. I have another local contact I can hire to edit the books and still self publish if it comes to that. The bonafide credentials of being a published writer (as opposed to self published) has its advantages though, so I'm hopefully it will work out.
Have to be honest here. I've also been pursuing a copywriting business venture, but I've been rethinking the whole thing since I've really gotten back into writing. I think I may just have to let it go. It's a shame, especially since I've put quite a bit of money into it, but the more I heard from my copywriting guru, the more it sounded to me like I should be writing novels and screenplays as opposed to doing copywriting. I'm going to take that gamble and run with it for a few months and see if it gets me where I want to go. I'm only a small advance from a publisher away from convincing the family to let me give it a shot! Copywriting business is still an option, but I'm putting it on hold right now. Kind of feel this is my best opportunity to pursue a real future in writing. Best I grab it while I can.
Felling optimistic. Hope you are too.
Artemus
I was looking for an actual editor (other than myself, who didn't do such a great job) to edit my first self-published novel, The Adventures of Reztap. Several people enjoyed reading it, but a few of my writer friends mentioned there were some bad editing errors. Lesson learned - don't edit your own stuff. There are multiple benefits from getting an editor, the primary ones are your work is 99% free of editing errors and the books are then eligible to be covered by large book reviewers (who will not review a book unless it has been professionally edited).
I had self-published my first book mostly to learn the ins and outs of self-publishing. I think I've learned many valuable lessons and felt ready to get book one professionally edited as well as book two (which I finished at the beginning of October). So, I contacted a person I knew thru my wife who was a freelance editor. My reason for going local was to get someone close who I could meet with if needed. I also had a good feeling knowing what this editor had done in the past, so I was pretty comfortable going with her. I thought it was good to try to hire locally as well.
I contacted the editor. She talked to me for about twenty minutes about the book before I sent it to her. Turns out, she was no longer doing freelance editing. She was now Director of Publishing at a small press here locally and their company would be interested in looking at my book and possibly publishing it. My initial thoughts on a traditional publisher were that it was a shot in the foot financially for a writer. Traditional publishers offer a 15% royalty on average for writers on book sales. She mentioned they did higher royalties and I was immediately interested. I haven't seen a contract offer yet, but it's still much better at first glance than a traditional publisher. It may be she's referring to ebook royalties and not print, but the royalties she mentioned sounded inline with the ones you get from Amazon and the ebook aggregators who publish to Apple and Barnes & Noble. I knew this since I'd already self published to both and those were the rates.
Now, they're not one of the big six traditional publishing houses, so it stands to reason they've got their eye on how to compete in today's market and offer an attractive package to savvy writers. Honestly, a 50% run on a print book is worth the investment if they're going to edit my book as well. I don't know how they would manage a 70% royalty to the writer on a printed title, though. There's more overhead with printing, even on a print on demand (POD) basis that would make that a very tight margin for a publisher, so I'm kind of guessing I won't quite be getting that. With a typical POD basis, I was looking at getting maybe 30% of the cover price. CreateSpace (a division of Amazon) gives a 37% royalty on books purchased thru Amazon (where most sales would likely come from) and a 57% royalty on print titles thru the CreateSpace estore. I'm thinking for a smaller publisher than CreateSpace, a 50-70% royalty would be a little high. Then again, maybe I'm wrong and they've really been able to bring down the actual physical costs of printing a hard copy of a book. But really, I think she meant ebook rates and not print rates. I need to see a contract to be sure, but if nothing else, something better than 15% is going to peak my interest.
The thing I'm chomping at the bit about is speed, of course. It's been a little over five weeks since I submitted book one to the publisher. I know, that sounds like a reasonable enough time to get an answer, but consider what route I would go thru with a traditional publisher. First, I would submit the book. The soonest I would get a reply from a large publishing house would be six to eight weeks, although it could reasonably take several months longer...and that's just to get what would likely be a rejection slip on what would be a 15% royalty (max) if they published. I've actually got the ear of the Director of Publishing. She doesn't mind hearing from me once a week and giving me an update on progress. I simply would not get that thru a traditional publisher - in fact, I'd probably be dependent on my agent for all correspondence and negotiations with the publisher. Well, I don't have an agent, so I'm already skipping one piece of the process with a direct line to the publisher. Of course, the biggest factor in all of this is I was just looking to pay someone to edit my book for me; getting an offer to have it published (and hopefully get some kind of advance on it), well, I can only say it sounds like something I've dreamed of since I was in high school. I think I can wait a few weeks to see how this all plays out.
In the mean time, I finished my second book in the series (also submitted that to the editor) and compiled a short list of the future books I have planned in the series also with a short synopsis of each book. One of the things that had interested her in my initial conversation was my intentions to write sequels. I think they're looking for regular writers who produce often. I'm only too happy to oblige! Of course, if they pass on publishing, I'm really not out too much except a little bit of time. I have another local contact I can hire to edit the books and still self publish if it comes to that. The bonafide credentials of being a published writer (as opposed to self published) has its advantages though, so I'm hopefully it will work out.
Have to be honest here. I've also been pursuing a copywriting business venture, but I've been rethinking the whole thing since I've really gotten back into writing. I think I may just have to let it go. It's a shame, especially since I've put quite a bit of money into it, but the more I heard from my copywriting guru, the more it sounded to me like I should be writing novels and screenplays as opposed to doing copywriting. I'm going to take that gamble and run with it for a few months and see if it gets me where I want to go. I'm only a small advance from a publisher away from convincing the family to let me give it a shot! Copywriting business is still an option, but I'm putting it on hold right now. Kind of feel this is my best opportunity to pursue a real future in writing. Best I grab it while I can.
Felling optimistic. Hope you are too.
Artemus
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Pro Edit funding campaign starts today!
I've done it. I'm admitting my editing skills leave much to be desired. Check out my fundraising campaign for a professional edit of The Adventures of Reztap here: http://fundanything.com/en/campaigns/pro-edit-of-the-adventures-of-reztap
Really, check it out! I tried to make it as humorous as possible so it would be at least entertaining to anyone who comes across it. I don't want to ruin the surprise, so give it a quick visit.
Been in a bit of a writing funk lately, but that's turning around and I'm resuming work on the sequel even as I type (this line will appear in the sequel). Seriously though, I'm energized, jazzed and altogether optimistic about the next couple of months. Hopefully the fundraising campaign will actually take off and The Adventures of Reztap may get a review by a national reviewer. It can use the exposure, nut only after it's been edited and edited well!
More to come soon.
Regards,
Artemus
Really, check it out! I tried to make it as humorous as possible so it would be at least entertaining to anyone who comes across it. I don't want to ruin the surprise, so give it a quick visit.
Been in a bit of a writing funk lately, but that's turning around and I'm resuming work on the sequel even as I type (this line will appear in the sequel). Seriously though, I'm energized, jazzed and altogether optimistic about the next couple of months. Hopefully the fundraising campaign will actually take off and The Adventures of Reztap may get a review by a national reviewer. It can use the exposure, nut only after it's been edited and edited well!
More to come soon.
Regards,
Artemus
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Intriguing
Here it is, almost two months after I've pulled the eBook from circulation, and I've received notification of an eBook sale of The Adventures of Reztap. OK, maybe that doesn't sound strange to you, but consider this - it is through Amazon where the eBook isn't even listed on my Dashboard of books! Evidently, it really is difficult to remove a publication from the internet once it's been posted there in one form or another.
For those keeping track (I think there are about five of you, maybe?), I've been writing both the sequel and revising the original. Neither of those very fast, I might add. I have other projects I'm working on as well, and all of them seem to have suffered the same fate. Just not concentrating as well as I used to on writing. Maybe it's the new grandson that is distracting me more than anything else.
So, back to concentration and focus. Would that writing were a full-time occupation for me, it would be easier to justify the number of hours required. As it is, it's still a part-time endeavor. The full-time job still occupies a vast chunk of time - 11.5 hours a day including commute if there is no overtime. Finances being what they are, there is also the part-time job which consumes an additional chunk of time on the weekends. Time left over for writing is very sparse. I have less of it now than I did this same time last year. Not a positive prospect to be sure.
However, now I have an additional array of tools at my disposal. During lunch time, I can easily access my writing documents and add a little here and a little there. That could be another 2.5 hours of writing a week. It's not the best, but it's better than a kick in the pants. Given the circumstances at home with the new grandson, it may actually behoove me to devote a couple of hours away from the house to writing rather than try to cram it in with the distractions there. I'm going to try a four-hour window every weekend and see what I can accomplish away from the home office.
Enough musings! I hope your own personal pursuits are more fruitful than mine have been of late.
Regards,
Artemus
For those keeping track (I think there are about five of you, maybe?), I've been writing both the sequel and revising the original. Neither of those very fast, I might add. I have other projects I'm working on as well, and all of them seem to have suffered the same fate. Just not concentrating as well as I used to on writing. Maybe it's the new grandson that is distracting me more than anything else.
So, back to concentration and focus. Would that writing were a full-time occupation for me, it would be easier to justify the number of hours required. As it is, it's still a part-time endeavor. The full-time job still occupies a vast chunk of time - 11.5 hours a day including commute if there is no overtime. Finances being what they are, there is also the part-time job which consumes an additional chunk of time on the weekends. Time left over for writing is very sparse. I have less of it now than I did this same time last year. Not a positive prospect to be sure.
However, now I have an additional array of tools at my disposal. During lunch time, I can easily access my writing documents and add a little here and a little there. That could be another 2.5 hours of writing a week. It's not the best, but it's better than a kick in the pants. Given the circumstances at home with the new grandson, it may actually behoove me to devote a couple of hours away from the house to writing rather than try to cram it in with the distractions there. I'm going to try a four-hour window every weekend and see what I can accomplish away from the home office.
Enough musings! I hope your own personal pursuits are more fruitful than mine have been of late.
Regards,
Artemus
Monday, January 21, 2013
eBook Pulled
As some of you may have realized from the publication of The Adventures of Reztap, it has been an exercise in marketing for a self-published book. I've learned many things in the last nine months. I'd like to share them below:
1. People will complain about price, no matter what it is, and changing it to something lower will not affect sales. In fact, it's more likely to impact them.
2. A professionally edited book has more avenues to be marketed. There are some book reviews sites that will not review a book unless it has been professionally edited. Anything that reduces your opportunity for exposure is bad, especially if you don't have a large marketing budget to advertise but depend on the reviews of others to get the word out about your book.
3. Many have commented that the book was not long enough. It was not even something I'd considered when I published it, but people have an expectation for a book that it be a certain length. I think my book was about 75% of the length people expected.
4. Word of mouth is hard to build. Many of the successes you've seen in the self-publishing world (those books that got picked up by a large publisher) built a large fan following before ever being published. A lead time of one to three years would go a long way to building an audience for the book ahead of it being published.
5. Many self-publishers have a dedicated web site to the book (or books) and you can buy the eBook or hard copy through a link directly on the site (not many actually sell it directly, but point to a major retailer's web site for the book).
6. Pushing the book at conventions requires a lot of pre-planning and an outlay of money for a table to hawk your wares. I don't think there's anything wrong with this, but I was definitely not prepared for the financial outlays, especially just to push a single book.
7. The act of publishing the book and eBook is actually fairly easy now with the tools available on the internet.
8. Marketing is NOT easy.
9. Actual publishers want a built-in audience for your book - it is a plus when approaching a publisher and sometimes a requirement. Catch-22 - if you already have a built-in audience, why do you need a publisher? You can get additional exposure through the publishers web site, promotion through retail outlets, and prestige that gets reviewers to look at your book and review without you even asking. Ok, maybe you still have to ask, but it's easier to get them to do it when they see it was published by a major publisher.
What does this mean for the future of The Adventures of Reztap? I've pulled the book because it does need to go to a professional editor. I thought I did a bang up job editing it, and many normal readers may only notice one or two errors, but it is riddled with errors mostly due to a rewrite from third person to first person. I missed point of view changes in many places, even after three very thorough editing reviews.
I figured if I'm going to send it to a professional editor, I might as well address additional issues with the book. Length being the primary one. I will be adding an epilogue and an appendix with information about the universe according to Reztap. Where appropriate, I may add some passages and information within the story itself, but it will remain the same overall story. I won't introduce any major plot changes or anything like that. As I'm halfway through writing the sequel, I have a better insight into areas where I may be able to expand the original story where it makes sense to.
For now, the hard copy of the first edition of The Adventures of Reztap is still available from Barnes & Noble, Amazon/Createspace, and The Book Patch. I will likely leave them there for now.
I will continue to write the sequel and the third book in the series. After making changes to the first book and completing the next two books, I will approach some major publishers to see if there's interest in publishing the books.
As a complement to the books, I will be investing in a dedicated web site to the books and intend on putting blog posts and short stories with the characters on there, as well as some book reviews of other authors. I hope I can build a decent audience over the space of a year or two and bring the world back to readers. Until then, grab a first edition hard copy if you can. I'll probably pull those after a few months as well.
Thank you for your support and attention!
Artemus Withers
P.S. Keep tuned to this blog for updates on the aforementioned web site, sequel(s) progress and other news.
1. People will complain about price, no matter what it is, and changing it to something lower will not affect sales. In fact, it's more likely to impact them.
2. A professionally edited book has more avenues to be marketed. There are some book reviews sites that will not review a book unless it has been professionally edited. Anything that reduces your opportunity for exposure is bad, especially if you don't have a large marketing budget to advertise but depend on the reviews of others to get the word out about your book.
3. Many have commented that the book was not long enough. It was not even something I'd considered when I published it, but people have an expectation for a book that it be a certain length. I think my book was about 75% of the length people expected.
4. Word of mouth is hard to build. Many of the successes you've seen in the self-publishing world (those books that got picked up by a large publisher) built a large fan following before ever being published. A lead time of one to three years would go a long way to building an audience for the book ahead of it being published.
5. Many self-publishers have a dedicated web site to the book (or books) and you can buy the eBook or hard copy through a link directly on the site (not many actually sell it directly, but point to a major retailer's web site for the book).
6. Pushing the book at conventions requires a lot of pre-planning and an outlay of money for a table to hawk your wares. I don't think there's anything wrong with this, but I was definitely not prepared for the financial outlays, especially just to push a single book.
7. The act of publishing the book and eBook is actually fairly easy now with the tools available on the internet.
8. Marketing is NOT easy.
9. Actual publishers want a built-in audience for your book - it is a plus when approaching a publisher and sometimes a requirement. Catch-22 - if you already have a built-in audience, why do you need a publisher? You can get additional exposure through the publishers web site, promotion through retail outlets, and prestige that gets reviewers to look at your book and review without you even asking. Ok, maybe you still have to ask, but it's easier to get them to do it when they see it was published by a major publisher.
What does this mean for the future of The Adventures of Reztap? I've pulled the book because it does need to go to a professional editor. I thought I did a bang up job editing it, and many normal readers may only notice one or two errors, but it is riddled with errors mostly due to a rewrite from third person to first person. I missed point of view changes in many places, even after three very thorough editing reviews.
I figured if I'm going to send it to a professional editor, I might as well address additional issues with the book. Length being the primary one. I will be adding an epilogue and an appendix with information about the universe according to Reztap. Where appropriate, I may add some passages and information within the story itself, but it will remain the same overall story. I won't introduce any major plot changes or anything like that. As I'm halfway through writing the sequel, I have a better insight into areas where I may be able to expand the original story where it makes sense to.
For now, the hard copy of the first edition of The Adventures of Reztap is still available from Barnes & Noble, Amazon/Createspace, and The Book Patch. I will likely leave them there for now.
I will continue to write the sequel and the third book in the series. After making changes to the first book and completing the next two books, I will approach some major publishers to see if there's interest in publishing the books.
As a complement to the books, I will be investing in a dedicated web site to the books and intend on putting blog posts and short stories with the characters on there, as well as some book reviews of other authors. I hope I can build a decent audience over the space of a year or two and bring the world back to readers. Until then, grab a first edition hard copy if you can. I'll probably pull those after a few months as well.
Thank you for your support and attention!
Artemus Withers
P.S. Keep tuned to this blog for updates on the aforementioned web site, sequel(s) progress and other news.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Price - Not Such a Factor in Sales
It's been an interesting discovery. Perhaps it was the lack of pushing the product or maybe it just doesn't matter, but when I dropped the eBook pricing for The Adventures of Reztap to $2.99 I didn't sell a single one. Whereas, in my inital push to get the book out there, I had priced it at $4.99. I sold several at that price, but perhaps that was because of the newness of the book. I really can't say.
I do believe that my marketing leaves much to be desired. It would not appear the price of the book means one wit to whether or not someone will actually purchase it. History suggests if someone has been reached, noticed the book, was interested in that subject and willing to pay a fair price for it then there is a sale. I don't know how else to quantify the results.
I will leave the eBook at $2.99 through the holiday shopping period. After that I will raise it once again to $4.99. It will be interesting to see what the results of this post will be before and after the price is raised.
For your ease of purchasing frenzy which I'm certain will occur after this post, I'm putting the links to both the hard copy and eBook of The Adventures of Reztap below:
Kobo
Amazon (Kindle eBook & paperback)
Diesel
Sony
Barnes and Noble (Nook eBook & paperback)
Apple (iTunes)
Smashwords
Happy purchasing! Merry Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/WinterSolstice/etc.
Artemus
I do believe that my marketing leaves much to be desired. It would not appear the price of the book means one wit to whether or not someone will actually purchase it. History suggests if someone has been reached, noticed the book, was interested in that subject and willing to pay a fair price for it then there is a sale. I don't know how else to quantify the results.
I will leave the eBook at $2.99 through the holiday shopping period. After that I will raise it once again to $4.99. It will be interesting to see what the results of this post will be before and after the price is raised.
For your ease of purchasing frenzy which I'm certain will occur after this post, I'm putting the links to both the hard copy and eBook of The Adventures of Reztap below:
Kobo
Amazon (Kindle eBook & paperback)
Diesel
Sony
Barnes and Noble (Nook eBook & paperback)
Apple (iTunes)
Smashwords
Happy purchasing! Merry Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/WinterSolstice/etc.
Artemus
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Facebook, other progress
Over the weekend, I embarked on another marketing experiment. I created a page for The Adventures of Reztap (http://www.facebook.com/TheAdventuresOfReztap?ref=hl). I set a start and end date for the campaign as well as a daily budget. Essentially four days for a budget of $40.
The ad would display on the targeted audiences pagem in the right hand side of the screen like other ads. My targeted audeince for this campaign was those who liked Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Firefly and The Stainless Steel Rat. These were all comparisons one reviewer ,ade for the book, so I thought that would be a great target audience.
I failed to put a link to buy the book on the Facebook page until a day after I started the advertisements. Obviously, I need to make a checklist for future campaigns with different books. I also failed to monitor the campaign to make sure it ended on the date it was supposed to. Guess what? Sure enough, I log in two days after it is supposed to have ended and see that my budget is continuing to climb because the campaign is still going. Frustrating to be sure. I thought I'd been very meticulous on when the campaign was to end, bu the status was still active and looked like it would remain so for a full month, not just four days. luckily, I was able to "pause" the campaign. I'm only in for another $12 and some change, but that was more than I wanted to spend on the experiment.
The page now has 40 likes. I also implored my friends on Facebook for their participation, and probably half of these likes are from them. Any increased sales from the marketing campaign? Not a single sale. In fact, sales appear to have dropped off considerably to a trickle of zero. All in all, the book was well written, has been enjoyed by nearly everone who has picked it up, but without a strong marketing push, no one will hear about it and pick it up.
Lesson learned from this endeavor? The self-published novel and requires a hefty amount of self-marketing. Creating the book isn't the problem. Getting people to hear about it is the problem.
undeterred, I have continued writing on the sequel. I'm somewhere near the end of the second chapter, having completed the synopsis. Part of my time has been spent figuring out who does what on the ship now that the crew has expanded from two humanoids and one android to a crew of around one hundred. There are plenty of surprises still in store for our heroes - I can hardly wait to see what they are.
Marketing hat still on,
Artemus
The ad would display on the targeted audiences pagem in the right hand side of the screen like other ads. My targeted audeince for this campaign was those who liked Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Firefly and The Stainless Steel Rat. These were all comparisons one reviewer ,ade for the book, so I thought that would be a great target audience.
I failed to put a link to buy the book on the Facebook page until a day after I started the advertisements. Obviously, I need to make a checklist for future campaigns with different books. I also failed to monitor the campaign to make sure it ended on the date it was supposed to. Guess what? Sure enough, I log in two days after it is supposed to have ended and see that my budget is continuing to climb because the campaign is still going. Frustrating to be sure. I thought I'd been very meticulous on when the campaign was to end, bu the status was still active and looked like it would remain so for a full month, not just four days. luckily, I was able to "pause" the campaign. I'm only in for another $12 and some change, but that was more than I wanted to spend on the experiment.
The page now has 40 likes. I also implored my friends on Facebook for their participation, and probably half of these likes are from them. Any increased sales from the marketing campaign? Not a single sale. In fact, sales appear to have dropped off considerably to a trickle of zero. All in all, the book was well written, has been enjoyed by nearly everone who has picked it up, but without a strong marketing push, no one will hear about it and pick it up.
Lesson learned from this endeavor? The self-published novel and requires a hefty amount of self-marketing. Creating the book isn't the problem. Getting people to hear about it is the problem.
undeterred, I have continued writing on the sequel. I'm somewhere near the end of the second chapter, having completed the synopsis. Part of my time has been spent figuring out who does what on the ship now that the crew has expanded from two humanoids and one android to a crew of around one hundred. There are plenty of surprises still in store for our heroes - I can hardly wait to see what they are.
Marketing hat still on,
Artemus
Friday, July 27, 2012
Tracking the Oiled Ferret (Sales)
With all this discussion about pricing and effects on sales, a sobering thought entered my befuddled brain. These are barely real-time statistics I am referencing for my conclusions.
Amazon and Smashwords are relatively on-time with their notifications of sales and how much that will put in my account. I recently received a nice little sum of money from both of them for sales in May and June. That was the end of the second quarter.
The next payments, no matter how many I sell, won't com until the end of October. I can still track sales for those two sites, but the long-term result is still a quarterly payment.
The real challenge will be tracking the sales for the Premium Distribution channel. All those web sites report sales roughly quarterly. My fancy little price change for testing won't yield any measurable results for those channels until October. That's a very long waiting game.
Advice to the other self-publishers out there - just be ready for a long game - this is not a quick one-handed poker challenge, it's a long yacht voyage around the world.
We'll table the discussion of where the book ranks in sales for another day.
Artemus
Amazon and Smashwords are relatively on-time with their notifications of sales and how much that will put in my account. I recently received a nice little sum of money from both of them for sales in May and June. That was the end of the second quarter.
The next payments, no matter how many I sell, won't com until the end of October. I can still track sales for those two sites, but the long-term result is still a quarterly payment.
The real challenge will be tracking the sales for the Premium Distribution channel. All those web sites report sales roughly quarterly. My fancy little price change for testing won't yield any measurable results for those channels until October. That's a very long waiting game.
Advice to the other self-publishers out there - just be ready for a long game - this is not a quick one-handed poker challenge, it's a long yacht voyage around the world.
We'll table the discussion of where the book ranks in sales for another day.
Artemus
Friday, July 20, 2012
Book Two Teaser - Sort of...
I began writing the sequel to The Adventures of Reztap. The new book will be titled Reztap and the Quest for the Insane Moth. If you've read the first book, the title makes sense. If you haven't, well it sure is a curiosity isn't it?
Onto the teaser as promised! I completed the outline for Reztap and the Quest for the Insane Moth a couple weeks ago. The outline has been marinating and cooking in my brain while I've been engaged in other pursuits that have nothing to do with writing. On a business trip this week, I finally delved into the world of Tar and Gorth again and completed chapter one and am just starting the writing of chapter two. What I have completed (via the outline) are the chapter headings for the book - some of these were quite interesting in the first book, and I tried to keep them that way for the second. So, you're only real preview of the book before I finish writing it and go through the edit process is presented below.
Chapter 1 – How’d that get there?
Chapter 2 – Moth Bawls
Chapter 3 – Why Rimtikians are so Pissy
Chapter 4 – Witless Protection
Chapter 5 – Hell Hath No Fury
Chapter 6 – The Unattainable Bargain
Chapter 7 – Between a Scarf and a Hard Place
Chapter 8 – Dilo the Traitor
Chapter 9 – No Place Like Home
Chapter 10 – Past Tense
Chapter 11 – That Rock is Hard to Swallow
Chapter 12 – Gorth Takes a Vacation
Chapter 13 – Nothing as Profitable as War
Chapter 14 – Mental Fatigue
Chapter 15 – Magnetic Personalities
Chapter 16 – Scarfing down the next Mission
Of course, only part of this makes any sense if you've read the first book and probably makes no sense whatsoever if you haven't. So get out there and read book one! Book two is on the way, I promise!
Slaving away in a digital graphite mine,
Artemus
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